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curated cheeses "

For our December artisan cheese selection, we wanted to take it back to our roots and bring you an all-Italian, all-organic roster of cheeses. We worked closely with Pondini, an importer based right here in New Jersey who specializes in sourcing organic cheeses, oils and vinegars from Italy. Come in and taste them all!

Formagella di MontagnaLombardyCow Milk, Raw ($26/lb)

Perhaps my favorite of this month’s selection, Formagella is a subtle crowd-pleaser. A cave-aged, semi-firm cheese with a pretty natural rind, its flavor is mild at first, but quickly opens up to deliver dominant notes of butter and mushrooms. This is an eminently meltable, very snack-able, all-day, every day kind of cheese that will be enjoyed by adults and younger folk alike!

Pecorino GessatoFattoria Lischeto, TuscanySheep Milk, Raw ($32/lb)

I couldn’t put together an Italian cheese selection without a Pecorino, and this one is a great example of a classic Tuscan aged Pecorino. While overall less aggressive than a Pecorino Romano, Gessato still maintains the slightly meaty flavor note characteristic of many sheep milk cheeses. Shave this onto pastas and salads, or enjoy as a table cheese with honey and pears!

A very special addition to any holiday cheese board, Madame di Bufala is a Taleggio-style cheese made with water buffalo milk! Buffalo milk is richer, sweeter, and yet milder than the milk of cows or sheep, and cheeses made with their milk tend to be luscious and decadent. Madame di Bufala’s creamy and spreadable paste beautifully balances the funkier notes from its washed rind, making for a cheese we just can’t stop eating.

Thanksgiving dominates the November foodscape, and, like your favorite Thanksgiving dishes, our November cheeses are either beloved, award-winning American artisan cheese classics, only available seasonally, or both! In the spirit of the season, I encourage you to buy a large enough wedge to share with your friends and family – pick your favorite, or go with all three for a complete, crowd-pleasing cheese boar

Tarentaise

Spring Brook Farm, VTCow Milk, Raw $36/lb

Alpine-style Tarentaise is one of the country’s most celebrated artisan cheeses, and for good reason! Made from Spring Brook’s own herd of cows on their 1,000+ acre farm in a gorgeous part of Vermont, it’s an artisanal American classic that I love to have around for the holiday season. A little sweet and a lot savoury, this versatile cheese is perfect on an appetizer board with cornichons and pickled pearl onions, melted over roasted potatoes alongside caramelized brussels sprouts, or as part of a breakfast spread (or midnight snack…) for hungry houseguests!

Verano

Vermont Shepherd, VTSheep Milk, Raw$40/lb

A pioneering, artisan sheep milk cheese producer in both Vermont and the wider US, Vermont Shepherd has been grazing sheep and making their signature French-inspired cheese for over 20 years. As befits the oldest sheep dairy farm in the US, Vermont Shepherd’s products and practices are driven by tradition and closely tied to the seasons. Verano is made only in the summer, while the ewes are outside on pasture, grazing on clover, wild herbs and other grasses. These cheeses are aged 3-5 months and released starting in August, becoming scarce by late fall – and I was lucky enough to score one of the last wheels for Valente’s!

Abruzze Jawn

Cherry Grove Farm, NJCow Milk, Raw$30/lb

A natural rinded, Jack-style cheese, Abruzze Jawn has a fun origin story: while experimenting with new flavours for their Jack cheese, the Cherry Grove cheesemakers created a unique spice blend and mixed it into the curds, not knowing how their experiment would turn out. A few months later, they cut into a wheel and realised it tasted just like the Abruzze sausage they used to sell while working as cheesemongers in Philly – and named it accordingly! The resulting cheese was entered in the American Cheese Society competition, winning first prize in its category. It’s now become one of Cherry Grove’s most popular cheeses, and is only made a couple of times a year – so snap it up while you can!

October is American Cheese Month! We’re celebrating with a selection of cheeses from 3 creameries representing different aspects of the American cheese landscape.

Ben NevisBonnieview Farm, VTSheep Milk, Raw ($40/lb)

Made on a fourth generation family farm in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom, Ben Nevis is a firm, aged sheep milk cheese named after (in a nod to the farmer’s Scots ancestry) the highest mountain in the UK. It’s salty and savory, with just a touch of the sweet richness characteristic of sheep milk cheeses. Owners Neil and Kristin Urie use only the milk from their own flock of sheep, which they breed seasonally and graze rotationally on their land. Ben Nevis is one of my favorite American sheep cheeses, and not often seen in our area, so I’m really excited to bring it to Valente’s for American Cheese Month!

Owned and operated by a brother and sister team, Boxcarr Handmade Cheese is a relative newcomer on the American artisan cheese scene – but their Italian-inspired cheeses have already become staples at many of the best cheese counters around the country. Owners and first generation farmers Austin and Samantha Genke make cheese with milk sourced from nearby farms, allowing them to focus exclusively on the cheesemaking and aging process – while providing a valuable sales outlet for dairy farms in their region. Rubbed with paprika and lightly smoked, Redbud is great paired with nuts as a snack or pre-dinner appetizer.

Red RockRoelli Cheese Haus, WICow Milk, Pasteurized ($32/lb)

The first thing you notice about Red Rock is its striking, singular appearance. An American original recipe by Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker Chris Roelli, this cheese is made in a long loaf, colored a deep orange red with annatto, and shot through with streaks of blue. Chris, a fourth generation WI cheesemaker with family roots in Switzerland, decided to move away from producing block cheddars on an industrial scale, and instead began making smaller batch, cave-aged cheeses. His technical expertise and years of experience have resulted in award-winning innovations like Red Rock. A great beginners blue cheese, Red Rock’s cheddar base makes it excellent in sandwiches, but it’s best shown off as the centerpiece of a cheeseboard, where all can admire its good looks!